Chapter 474

When they got back home, the two of them hit the kitchen together just like old times.

It'd been a hot minute since they last cooked up a storm together, and Theresa must've sensed it, because she was over the moon seeing them at it again tonight, barging into the kitchen, all thumbs, eager to lend a hand.

Sophia and Brandon didn't put any brakes on her; they gave her some easy- peasy tasks, and the little pumpkin was all in, working her socks off.

The excitement and joy carried over to dinner, with Theresa gabbing away, trying to juggle eating and chatting at the same time.

She was so much more full of beans than she had been in the past few days. It was clear as day that Theresa was really digging this family vibe.

Sophia, watching Theresa like this, felt a rollercoaster of emotions. As a mom, seeing her kid happy and chipper was the biggest win she could ask for.

Her internal scales were already tipping, almost without her realizing it, towards giving Theresa the full family package.

this tilt came a pang of regret and a touch of melancholy that she wasn't the

in these feels, she didn't even notice she had stopped fussing with the tableware and was just staring off into space at Theresa,

the moment she started watching Theresa, Brandon had his eyes locked on her. He didn't miss the struggle and compromise in her eyes, nor the subtle shades of

was like

her with her bedtime routine, and tucked her

to the studio next door. Brandon didn't follow; they both needed

leaning back, head tilted up, staring at the

way she nervously approached her seat under the teacher's direction, the evenings they biked home past the river, the pride he felt winning the 5-kilometer at the track meet as everyone crowded around him, expressing "congrats", while

flipped by like slides in an old projector, through the heart-pounding surprise reunion at the class gathering, the whirlwind of emotions that led to a night of

always quiet and unassuming yet

of her allowed him to focus on his career with a sense of security, taking for granted that she would always be there; whenever he was weary, whenever he remembered to look back, she would be

wasn't. She could leave,

gone. From start to finish, Sophia never really came back,

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